


Don't you forget

by Lotuslia



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: But it doesn't last throughout the fic, Gen, i know it's not LU canon but these boys are siblings, let them remember each other!!!, starts with angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-18 03:00:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28859976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lotuslia/pseuds/Lotuslia
Summary: Hyrule town soldiers try to prank Mask by 'forgetting' him, turns out it was not a great idea, the kid's got some baggage about that. Big brother Warriors does some damage control via hugs, and much later is reminded of all this when he's thrown together with seven other Links, another one waiting to be found somewhere in this new somehow familiar Hyrule they've all just dropped into.This is just a Linked Universe blurb that's been haunting me ever since I read some other Mask & Warriors pieces, I adore the sibling-friendship they have in some fics.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 67





	Don't you forget

**Author's Note:**

> This has not been betaed or anything, it's just my thought flow, lmao. This was just the first bit at first, but I added the LU-timeline part to it later. Though ofc it's just my own twist to how they met, because in the comic they hadn't even met Malon yet.  
> Warriors has very quickly risen up to my favorites, I don't know what happened. *finger guns*

The sun was shining bright above the castle, and people were swarming the yard after training.

"You know… Fool's day is coming up.” A soldier blurted out, glancing at his fellows in the yard.

“Huh? ...So it is. Any plans?”

“Well, not really, but-” he shifted, folding his arms. “I really want to get back at the kid. He’s been pranking us endlessly since he got here."

Another soldier laughed, eager for the idea. "Mischievous little shit never runs out of energy. He’s a good kid, but I’m in."

“Won’t he see it coming, it’s in the name of the date? Can’t get much more obvious than that.” 

"He's not from this Hyrule, he won't know to expect it. The Captain doesn’t keep track of that stuff either, so we're probably safe from him spoiling it."

"...Right. Might as well try."

So carried on the idle chatter of castle town soldiers, making excited plans to tease their favorite menace of a child. He was just a kid and they were sure he’d been through enough with the war already, all they wanted was a little get-back and a shared laugh with the kid. Nothing serious. Just a simple confusing jest would be fine, right?

\---

Link- well, Mask, as the others called him here, was having a surprisingly good day considering he was still in the middle of war in a foreign Hyrule. While at times he missed home (though if asked where that home was, he truly couldn’t say), this new Hyrule was an endless source of treasure and adventure, unlike his own Hyrule, which he had explored pretty thoroughly already.

While his self-declared older brother 'Big Link' was busy making battle plans in the Captain's tent, he’d been exploring the castle grounds in the meantime. Mask had found a little bit of treasure from a well-hidden chest, and now a handful of pretty stones and a few rupees were filling up the little pouch at his belt, making bright clacks against each other as they jostled with his quick running steps. A small find, but one that delighted the boy regardless. He would stash its contents in his bag of masks and other treasures soon enough, but first he wanted to show it off to the soldiers he often kept company with.

"Hey!" The boy yelled brightly as he saw the group of young adults in training gear standing across the hallway he'd just entered. The vocal habit lingered from a dear old friend. Mask didn't talk much even with the people he considered friends, but he was comfortable making his presence known in other ways.

He’d often heard the soldiers wonder how a kid who spoke so little could be so noisy. Assholes.

“ _Look!_ ” he signed quickly with his left hand as his right one held up the pouch up high, a grin on his face and excitement glittering in his eyes. He made an arguably childish growl of frustration as none of them turned to see his signing, still busy talking amongst themselves. Glaring at them stubbornly, Mask let out a quick wordless yell before taking a deep breath to repeat his vocal call. Fortunately that got their attention, even making a few guards jump in surprise, and he huffed out the air from his lungs with a content grin.

“What the-?” One of the soldiers exclaimed while turning towards the boy, surprised. Mask was about to begin signing again, but paused awkwardly as the rest of them turned to simply watch him quietly. 

He saw no recollection in their faces, and a deep feeling of dread spread over him. The grin of childish joy fell from the boy's face almost instantly as his arm lowered to his chest, holding the pouch close with a slight tremble, his eyebrows furrowing with worry. 

The soldiers’ expressions were the very same he’d seen on the people of Termina each cycle, as he introduced himself again and again _and again_. 

He shuddered in a dreadful anticipation as the nearest one approached him. _Don’t let it be the same again-_

"Kid, who let you into the castle grounds, it's dangerous here." The man asked, frowning in clear concern and Mask felt something shatter within him as another soldier joined in the questioning. "Did you run off from someone visiting the castle? Where are your parents?" 

A familiar woman began to approach the boy but halted when she saw the horror on his face. Mask’s thoughts were running countless miles per second in a rushed panic as his eyes flicked between the many faces, none of whom showed any recollection. 

He’d once returned to a Hyrule that didn't remember him. Nobody knew what he'd done or who he was, aside from a few who knew him as the little fairy boy from the forest. Then he’d gone looking for Navi and ended up in Termina, where he’d repeated the same three-day cycle for what felt like months, and once again he was the only one who remembered. Even Zelda barely knew him now, and Mask had left without trying to befriend her again, the loss of her other self's bond feeling too raw to revisit. He missed Sheik, and didn’t want to go through that again.

"D-don't" he spoke choppily to the soldiers, his voice struggling to come out. With a sharp intake of breath, he shoved the pouch from his hand into the bag at his side and signed instead, watching as their faces quickly turned from distant amusement to nervous confusion. His eyes stung, so he averted his gaze to the floor. 

“ _Don't forget, not again,”_ he signed, breath uneven, and took a quick step away from them. The soldier closest to him knelt down to his height, concern in her eyes. 

"Again, what do you mean again? Kid, I don’t unders-" The distant tone of her voice was all gone as she dropped the jest, a fond concern taking its place, but Mask was too deep in his rushed panic to notice. He'd already turned and taken off running back down the hall by the time she rose to chase after him. On his way through the hallway the boy pulled out his stone mask and pressed it onto his face, disappearing from their sights. The soldiers weren't his enemies, but if he didn't want them to find him, the mask considered them such.

The questions gnawed at his mind as he found himself outside. Why was this happening, and had the older Link forgotten him as well?

Simultaneously needing an answer as well as dreading the truth of it, Mask eventually entered the familiar tent on the side of the yard, hoping his self-declared older brother was still by himself. His eyes stung again with the stress, and a few loose tears had already found their way down his cheeks. But he had to know.

\---

The Link of this realm was sat by the Captain's desk, _his desk_ , deep in thought with battle plans and other papers scattered across the surface. He hummed quietly under his breath as he often did, until a familiar young voice sniffed and hiccuped slightly behind him, making the young captain of the guard jump in surprise.

Sheesh, he should not be this jumpy.

Turning around, Link wasn’t sure what he was expecting to see but he relaxed at the sight of his younger counterpart, despite the gnawing worry at the sad sounds he had just heard. The boy held his stone mask tightly onto his face with both hands, clearly unsure of himself, and at a second glance Link noticed he was trembling. 

A frown found its way onto Link's face at the growing concern, and the conflict he was quickly realizing. He knew the boy hated being babied by the other soldiers, himself included, but Mask seemed to be genuinely upset right now, and he didn't want to leave him without comfort. In the end, he took the risk and crouched in front of the boy, reaching to palm at the blonde hair above the stone-shaped mask. 

"Hey kid, what's happened?" he asked with a soft voice, since he couldn't be sure if the boy was looking at his signing or not. Concern flooded him instantly as Mask let out a sound of distress, beginning to back away again. Link quickly grabbed his arm, careful not to hurt the boy but stopping his escape for the moment. 

"Come on. Mask, you don't need to hide." 

The relief seemed instantaneous as the boy stopped tugging at the hand on his arm. His fingers held even tighter onto the surface of the mask as he hiccuped once, twice, then began crying in earnest, taking a few relieved steps closer towards his older counterpart.

Link slowly pried the boy's hands off his mask though he didn't force him to remove it, and ran both of his hands through the boy’s hair in a calming motion as the muffled sobs continued. "What happened?"

_“The soldiers,”_ Mask signed haltingly after a long moment. “ _They forgot. Everyone forgets me after the journey’s over. Always. I think I'm cursed. I hate it._ ” Hiccuping as he signed with small trembling hands that occasionally wandered to wipe at his eyes under the mask, the boy seemed his age for once. Link felt a surge of hate towards the goddess Hylia for throwing such a small child into this war. And into whatever else the boy had been through in his early life. Link knew this was not the boy’s first journey, but hadn’t pried for much else.

He felt like there was a lot of context he was missing now, but regardless murmured quiet words of comfort, hands busy untangling the messy hair while his eyes followed the small hands carefully.

" _I don't want you to forget._ " the boy signed and reached up to push the mask off his face. It fell to the ground with a clatter, and Link got a quick glimpse of a glossy-eyed, teary and frowning face before the boy reached to grab at his blue scarf, burying his face into it to desperately hide there instead. Despite the situation, Link couldn’t help but smile at the action, a surge of fondness at his younger counterpart flooding his heart. Din bless him, how could he ever let this kid back to his own Hyrule?

“As if I could forget you, kid. You’re family.” The older Link mumbled, sighing as he wrapped the end of his long scarf properly around the boy and hoisted him up into his arms, ignoring the surprised protests from him. Then he scooted backwards into a corner of the tent and sat there, the boy held close between his chest and knees, wrapped loosely in his arms and the scarf he was still wearing himself. The kid's protests faltered, and after a long moment two small hands snaked their way around Link's chest, bringing a fond smile to the his face.

“We can stay here for a while, Impa’s not coming to check the plans until later.” He muttered, voice low since they were the only ones in the tent. He'd just recently began speaking more than a few words at a time, and still tended to speak softer than most. “I don’t know what’s with the guards, they shouldn’t...” He mumbled, his expression darkening in thought, and then brightening with a realization.

He ran his hand through Mask’s hair once more as he squinted up towards the desk, just barely seeing the calendar on it from his seat on the floor. “Actually, I think I know what’s going on. I’ll talk to the guards, but I’m pretty sure they were just teasing you." He glanced down to see the confused stare of Mask, and quickly continued. "It’s Fools’ day, I think. They probably thought it’d be a harmless prank to confuse a kid. I’m sure they’ll know you and apologize if you talk to them again.” He hoped that was the case, at least.

“...Promise?” the kid asked, muffled by the scarf. His voice was small and still doubtful.

Link huffed a laugh and squeezed the boy in his arms, a muffled ‘oof’ sounding from under the scarf. “I promise. You’re too memorable with all the trouble you get into, you little menace.” He laughed, though it was interrupted by a yelp as he felt the small hands around him suddenly pinch at his sides. But at least the boy was now shaking with laughter, rather than tears. 

\---

Four years after the war, Link finally got to experience the feeling of temporal displacement for himself.

It was strange, he would not recommend it as a good pastime.

At least this time the quest didn’t need to involve the entirety of the Hyrulean army, but the group he found himself with was rather strange regardless. All of them were holders of the Hero’s Spirit, other Links of other Hyrules. Link, now 'Warriors' to avoid confusion, often wondered how he was ever going to survive this chaotic journey. His travel companions were all _absolutely unreasonable_ when it came to any sort of strategizing or teamwork, as if most of them had gone through their entire journeys alone, never having to coordinate any plans as a team.

The thought of them going through wars of their own alone mellowed him towards them a little though. Perhaps in a dutiful concern? ...Aah, who was he kidding, he liked these people, chaos and all.

But now that more Links had joined them, he was waiting.

He'd remembered the young sailor that joined them recently, now dubbed Wind, though the teenage boy didn’t seem to remember him. Perhaps his crossing to Warriors’ Hyrule happened after this journey? He did recall the boy being a tiny bit older back then. At least that meant this journey wouldn't end in total ruin, probably.

Now that he knew this meeting was possible, he was positively restless about another one.

His younger brother must still be somewhere out there, and this Hyrule felt familiar.

He’d never been to Mask’s Hyrule properly, but he’d seen bits and pieces of what came through. He could recognize the scenery, and the forest they landed near had the same scent of magic as Mask's few spells did. Both had the feeling of fairy magic in them.

Something told them all to stay out of the woods, though, so they headed towards the nearest towns for information instead.

To Warriors’ surprise however, they did not hear stories of a hero. None at all, but when they asked after Link, they were easily guided towards a farm instead.

That couldn’t be right, could it? Well, Mask had spoken of a redheaded farm girl and the horse he’d borrowed from her. Perhaps this was her farm?

Well, no use but to check, a boy that energetic could be anywhere.

But when they arrived at the farm no children were running around, not even the redheaded girl Mask had described when he’d missed home.

Instead, they found an adult woman with fiery red hair and a tall man with blonde hair, colorful marks on his face, and a significantly startled look on his face as he watched them all. There was no need for questions about his identity regarding their group, he had the same features of a Link as the rest of them underneath the symbols that Warriors could easily recognize from the deity mask he’d seen the brash young boy wear so many times before.

He couldn’t believe his eyes, the little bastard grew up tall.

And lost an eye somewhere along the way, it seems. A stray thought to the source of the injury and the familiar marks tugged at his heart, but he dismissed it for now, to be considered later. 

With so many Links present, older-Mask didn't seem to even notice him, much less recognize his face, but Warriors wasn't too surprised. He was distracted too when one of the Links opened their mouth to explain the situation.

"This is weird, we know. But we've been thrown into new Hyrules for a while, every time joined by another hero, and we think Hylia wants us all to go on a journey to-" 

The startled look in older-Mask's eye turned into despair and he fled into the house, even slamming the door on his way in. This left the rest of them outside with the woman, who looked relatively unsurprised. Instead she sighed, and collected the basket before her on the grass.

“I'm sorry, all of you. You're asking for a lot very suddenly, I’ll go talk to L-” She began, but Warriors interrupted, already moving towards the door. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to convince this Link join their party, or just find out whether the man still knew who he was, but something was pulling him into the house like he was caught on a line and hook.

“It’s okay, Miss Malon. I’ve got this.” He spoke, hoping he remembered right the name his brother had mentioned so many times, and ran inside ignoring her startled look at being called by name. 

“How do you know-?” She called behind him, as the door closed behind him, shutting out the confused yells of his fellow heroes. 

Inside the house it didn’t take long for Warriors to find the elusive Link. Or rather the opposite, he was found first as the taller man cornered him at the door to his kitchen, fire in his one open eye, and though he wasn't holding a weapon, it was clear from his posture he was ready for trouble. It was strange noticing the difference in posture, where Mask had always been more relaxed, and ready to improvise his way through any battle.

“Not a step further.” He growled defensively despite being the one with the upper hand. “I’m sure Hylia has taken more than her share from all of you, too. I’m not giving her a single piece of my life anymore.”

Warriors could only see minuscule recollection in the man’s eye when faced with the young captain, but it had most likely been decades for him since the war. What had happened to make such an adventurous child into such a hesitant adult? He didn't have long to think, before the older Link spoke again.

“If you came in to try and persuade me, you can just turn right around and walk out.” He spat out the words, then quieted his voice to almost a whisper. “I’m not leaving my- I won't leave this. Not for any goddess.” He closed his good eye for a moment, sighing, as he rubbed at his temples in frustration. 

Warriors understood then, remembered their conversations about being forgotten, and noticed the small glint of metal at his fingers. There was someone here who remembered, and nobody knew what another journey would take from him. Warriors remembered his own hate of the goddess Hylia for picking a child to be hero, of course it was expected said hero would be bitter about it as well.

"...I understand. I just don't know- I mean, Hylia has been very persistent with the rest of us, I don't know if she'll give up so easily-" he began, shifting uncertainly in front of the piercing gaze of the older Link, his fingers uncertainly running through his hair as he spoke.

“Hylia can go fuck herself." the man blurted out and rubbed at his eyes tiredly, grimacing as he paused. He glanced through the window, likely thinking of the others right outside, and when he continued, his words were quieter, pained. "...Especially now that I know there's more of you that she’s torn away from normal lives.”

The response came so unexpectedly that Warriors broke into a startled laugh, coughing to fruitlessly try and cover up his reaction. “Crude as ever. Look, I’m not sure if I’m trying to persuade you to join, or if I’m just here to talk, but-” He sighed and paused, looking up, hand running through his hair with the mild distress. 

“Do you remember me?” He spread his arms a little as he shrugged a bit too casually in an attempt to hide his nervousness, feeling a light sense of dread in his chest.

The older Link’s expression shuttered instantly, and he stared deeply at Warriors with a confused frown, as if estimating him, until his eye met with the scarf, then his face, and a look of recollection crossed his face.

“...It’s you. From the other Hyrule.” He whispered, making Warriors’ heart swell with joy. “From the war.”

“Well, I thought the scarf and good looks would make it pretty obvious, but clearly not.” Warriors huffed, and to his surprise, the older Mask barked a laugh at the jab, shaking his head in response.

“I didn’t stop to look at you properly.” He shrugged, mischief appearing in his eye as he unfolded his arms, resting them against his hips instead as he looked down at the captain. “And you always seemed… taller, back then. It was hard to put two and two together from this point of view.” Warriors' expression fell into distress, though there was a tinge of humor to it.

“Oh! Rude! You’re still rude, you little shit!”

"I don't know why you expected that to change, bud." Was the laughing response, before the older man hesitated for a moment. "It feels strange to be the older one now, but… It’s great to see you again, ‘big Link’." He offered his arm and Warriors expected a handshake, feeling disappointed, but as he took the arm he was pulled into a warm hug, being squeezed tightly for a short moment before being let go again.

Warriors laughed a bit at the nostalgia of the nickname. "Ahh, about that. We all go by our hero titles, since we're all Links. In this company I'm 'Warriors'."

"So they're not all just Young Links?" the older man laughed, teasing. 

"No, I call them all Mask, after the annoying little kid I once met.” Warriors laughed as well. “Don't be stupid, old man." 

"As long as it’s not as confusing as back then. But in that case you shouldn't call me Mask anymore either, it was never my hero title. I rarely use the masks now anyway." The man shrugged.

"Oh? Then what was?" Warriors had never questioned the nickname before, fitting as it was.

"The hero of Time."

"Huh. Fancy." Warriors hummed, thinking, before it hit him. “Wait, why would we call you anything other than Link, if you’re not coming with us?” He squinted.

The older Link sighed, looking serious and hesitant. “I’ll… I’ll think on it. You're no goddesses, I've got no reason to hate you all, though it's what I wanted to do before I realized it was you." He admitted, letting out a deep breath as he avoided looking at Warriors for a reaction. "You guys can stay at the farm overnight, yes? I’ll give you an answer in the morning. I want to talk with Malon...”

Watching the other’s hesitant gaze turn towards the door, knowing who stood outside, Warriors couldn’t help but reach out for the taller man’s arm, giving it a little smack. 

“I didn’t forget, did I? She won’t forget either. It’ll be fine.”

The older Link gave a fond sigh, and after a little pause, reached his hand behind Warriors’ shoulders, and pulled the laughing boy into a little side-hug, messing his hair up with his fingers in the process, ignoring his protests of _ruining his good_ _looks_.

“I’ll think on it.”


End file.
